1. Technical Field
This invention relates to massaging and heating devices and, more particularly, to a portable garment embedded with heating and massaging mechanisms that are selectively controlled by a user to alleviate abdominal cramping occurring during a women's menstrual cycle.
2. Prior Art
A regular menstrual cycle is a normal fact of life for most healthy adolescent girls and adult women. The monthly shedding f the lining of the uterus, the menstrual cycle or “period” as it is also known, is an important aspect of a woman's fertility. Providing a cushiony, nutrient-rich bed for a fertilized egg to grow into a baby, the uterine lining slowly develops during the course of a month in anticipation of the egg's arrival. Although an egg is released every month from one of a woman's two ovaries, the majority of time this egg remains unfertilized. Simply dissolving the after being dropped from the ovary, the egg and the lining are released from the body typically over the course of three to five days. A woman's menstrual cycle can begin as early as the age of nine and can last well into her fifties. For many women, a normal menstrual cycle is accompanied by uncomfortable side effects.
Specifically, many women experience pain and discomfort during their menstrual cycle. While some women experience only moderate pain and light cramping during their monthly period, others suffer much more serious complications. In particular, extreme lower back pain and excruciating abdominal cramps go hand in hand with a monthly period for many women. This pain can be so debilitating that many women who suffer severe menstrual symptoms literally “shut down” during their period, force to miss days of work, school or even planned social engagements, simply because the pain is too great to get out of bed.
Prior art attempts have been made to alleviate the pain associated with menstrual cycle cramping. One prior art example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,930 to Williams, which discloses a girdle for use in preventing the discomfort of cramps due to a menstrual period. The girdle has a cotton cloth panty of a type having a front portion, a rear portion and interconnecting side portions. The panty has a continuous elastic material around the top thereof and has a battery holding compartment attached to the top to a central front portion thereof. An electrical resistance heating structure is attached to the outside of the cotton panty front portion and extends from the crotch portion thereof an upwardly and outwardly in a V-shaped configuration to where the battery holding compartment is attached to the elastic. An electric battery is removably disposed of the battery holding compartment. A V-shaped basket weave cloth structure having a higher R-value than that of the cotton cloth of which the front portion is constructed is disposed over the front of the electrical heating structure for causing heat from the electrical heating structure to tend to flow through the cotton front panel towards the person wearing the girdle rather than through the front basket weave cloth whereby such person wearing the girdle will have that part of her anatomy which tends to cramp during menstrual periods heated during a menstrual period. Unfortunately, such a prior art example does not provide therapeutic vibrating and magnetic waves.
Another prior art example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,782 to Davis et al., which teaches a disposable thermal body pad comprising one or more thermal packs having a unified structure of at least one continuous layer of a semi rigid material which softens when heated and a plurality of individual heat cells, spaced apart and fixed within or to the unified structure of the thermal pack. The disposable thermal body pads are intended to be attached to a user's clothing on one side and to be held directly against the user's skin on the other side. More particularly, the present invention relates to disposable thermal body pads having good conformity to user's body which provides consistent, convenient and comfortable heat application. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to such disposable thermal body pads intended for relieving menstrual pain. Such a manner of alleviating pain does not provide vibrating motions coupled with exposure to a magnetic field about the abdominal cavity.
Accordingly, a need remains for a portable garment embedded with heating and massaging mechanisms that are selectively controlled by a user to alleviate abdominal cramping during a woman's menstrual cycle while also providing magnetic therapy to the bone structure and surrounding muscles.